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Female fans normally know more facts about what’s going on than men do anyway. I’d say they’re a more intelligent fan on top of that. They normally know more about what we’ve done than we know about what we’ve done. --- Tony Stewart

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There are female fans who take apart engines and will take you apart if you have a problem with that; who are drawn to the danger and mystery of the sport; who watch races on TV to witness pure passion and unscripted emotion; who love the camaraderie of these family-friendly festivals; who feel the nervous anxiety of the lip-biting wives atop the pit boxes. --- Andrew Giangola “The Weekend Starts on Wednesday”

Sam Hornish Jr. isn’t racing on a full-time basis right now,
but that doesn’t mean he forgot how to get to victory lane. Find out more about
the former open-wheel standout in this week’s Fast Facts, originally published
in July 2012.

Samuel Jon Hornish Jr. was born July 2, 1979 in Defiance, OH.
His racing career began at age 11 in go-karts, where he won the World Karting
Association U.S. Grand National championship in just four years. He moved up to
the USF2000 Series, where he raced from 1996-1998, and also competed in the
Toyota Atlantic Series and the 24 Hours of Daytona.

Hornish Jr. moved to the Indy Racing League in 2000, going
on to win three championships (2001, 2002 and 2006) as well as the 2006
Indianapolis 500 as a member of Team Penske. Also in 2006, Hornish Jr. began
the transition to NASCAR with Penske Racing, competing in the final two Busch
(now Xfinity) Series races of the season. In 2007, Hornish Jr. competed in his
final full season in the IRL while competing part-time in both the Busch and
Cup Series in NASCAR.

Hornish Jr. raced in the Cup Series full-time for three
seasons (2008 to 2010) before a lack of sponsorship left him without a Cup
Series ride for 2011. He competed in several Nationwide (now Xfinity) Series
races for Penske Racing that season, picking up his first victory at Phoenix in
November, which happened to also be the site of his first IRL win in 2001.

In 2012 and 2013, Hornish Jr. returned to the Nationwide
Series full-time for Penske, and also ran selected Cup Series races for the
team, including the final 19 races of the 2012 season as substitute for AJ
Allmendinger. He finished fourth in points in 2012 and second in 2013.

Hornish Jr. ran eight Nationwide Series race for Joe Gibbs
Racing in 2014, winning at Iowa Speedway in May and finishing second at
Michigan. In 2015, he returned to the Cup Series with Richard Petty Motorsports
for one season.

In 2016, Hornish Jr. returned once again to part-time competition
in the Xfinity Series with JGR and Richard Childress Racing. He returned to
victory lane at Iowa in June for JGR, and also picked up a second-place finish
at Mid-Ohio in August.

Hornish Jr. and his wife, Crystal are the parents of two
daughters, Addison and Eliza, and a son, Sam III.

For more information on Sam Hornish Jr., visit his website, samhornish.com.